Reunion
by Pureauthor
Summary: As Roxas wanders through the heart of his Other, he comes across a familiar face... RoXion, or whatever the portmanteau name is supposed to be.


Reunion

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So I just finished playing Kingdom Hearts DS (I still think the real name is stupid), and I decided to do a short little writeup about what happens.

I hope you enjoy this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Roxas stood and stared.

To be perfectly honest, there wasn't a whole lot to look at. Just the endless void stretching out far in every conceivable direction. The most visually arresting area was the very platform he was standing on, a humongous stained glass picture of his Other and those close to his heart.

"_Sora… you make a good Other."_

He' come to terms with it – well, as much as he could have come to terms with letting his body be subsumed to the cheery youth he knew so well and yet could not fathom in the slightest. He'd made his peace with Axel, too – one last stick of ice cream at the clock tower they'd been to so often.

So close to the Sora's heart, pulsing as it was with the greatest strength Roxas had ever known, Roxas couldn't help _but_ feel. Joy, hope, anger, relief – all these flowed through him like a river of pure light. He could _feel_ now, and with a bit of concentrating, he could tap into the emotions that his host felt.

He was complete now.

So why didn't he feel like he was?

Even as he continued staring out into the endless abyss, he couldn't shake the nagging sensation that there was _something_ wrong. Something missing. But he simply couldn't puzzle it out.

Eventually he shrugged, trying to dismiss it. It wasn't like he was going to be strapped for time, anyway. Speaking of which…

"There's gotta be more to this place than just the Station, right?" Roxas mumbled to himself as he glanced around. Being made complete was one thing – being driven stark raving mad from boredom was quite another.

It was only then that he noticed an inclined path leading downwards. Odd. Why hadn't he ever seen it before? You'd think he'd have noticed something like that before.

Well, it was a good a place to start his exploration as any.

Slowly, he descended. The incline was gentle, occasionally threading their way through other Station platforms, all of them depicting figures – some familiar, some not.

He continued wandering for what seemed like an eternity. Spatial reasoning apparently didn't work the same way here – he never felt any more distant or closer to Sora than before. There was just him, the Stations… and the endless, lonely void.

Eventually, he came to a door, tall and high and elaborately carved. It appeared so incongruent, at the end of the path that led to nowhere, with absolutely nothing on the other side that for a moment Roxas was silent, simply trying to puzzle it out.

Well, there was only one way to find out, he supposed. Reaching forward, he pushed.

For a moment, he was blinded by the sudden, intense light. Instinctively, he raised his hands, warding of the stinging rays.

"… The beach?" Sora's home of Destiny Islands… but how had he made his way..?

He paused, silently, considering. "No." He finally said out loud as he continued his lonely walk up across the sandy bars, up the rickety ladder, to the outcropping of rock with the bent tree and the paopu fruits – "Not Destiny Islands. Just Sora's memory of it."

That was what it had to be, after all. Even as he watched the scene faded away to a brilliant sunset, hues of pink and orange and gold filling the sky and being reflected in a thousand dancing lights across the waters.

"… Beautiful." He said softly.

"_Roxas?_" There was the soft pad of footsteps behind him, a startled female voice. At the sound he turned, and standing before him was… was…

"Nngh." The former Nobody clutched at his head, grimacing. "You…" He said softly. "I… know you. From… somewhere."

Short, black hair framing her face. Delicate features so much like the girl that Sora loved. And those eyes shining a deep, brilliant blue. Those eyes…

"Xi…" He paused, frustrated. He knew this girl from somewhere, he was sure of that much, but… where? And why was pulling her name out from the depths of his memory so difficult?

She smiled hesitantly, taking a small step closer to him. "I'm not surprised you don't remember me, Roxas. I'm just glad… I could see you again." Then she chuckled softly and reached into her robes - _Organization robes? When was she a part of the Organization?_ – pulling out two sticks of ice cream. "Here. Want some?"

"Th… thanks." He said hesitantly, reaching out to take the offered treat. "Where did that-"

Another chuckle. "From his memory. Everything here's a part of it, really. As long as he remembers it, we'll have it here too." She shrugged and bit into her ice cream. "I'm not sure how it works, but apparently I've been become de facto guardian of the place. Guess it's because I'm so closely tied to it."

Roxas continued to stare at her, stare at the face that he knew and yet did not know. He frowned. "Who… are you?" He said softly. "You know, don't you? Please tell me?"

"Finish your ice cream." She nodded in his direction before her eyes travelled off to the horizon again.

With a sigh, Roxas continued eating. When he was finally done, the girl turned back to him, swallowing the last bite of her own snack as well.

"Roxas…" She paused, her face creasing with an emotion Roxas couldn't readily identify – anxiety, perhaps? "It's me, Xion."

"Xion…?" And suddenly Roxas felt himself sink to his knees as the memories came rushing back, as if that single word had thrown open the dam. Fighting alongside her, talking to her, and their quiet afternoons spent on top of the clock tower. "Xion!" He repeated, this time stronger, with conviction.

Scrambling to his feet, he stared at her, so full of emotion and things to say that he was afraid that if he started it would all could out of him like a tidal wave and he'd never be able to stop again, and so he simply looked at her, looked her beautiful eyes that now shone with tears, at her smile as she gazed back at him.

"I…" He finally began, barely even aware that he was speaking. "You were all alone here… the whole time?"

And suddenly he felt arms wrapping around her body, felt the softness of her hair brushing against his ear, felt her chin resting on her shoulder. Somehow, despite the fact that he couldn't see her face, he knew she was smiling.

"No." She replied. "Not alone."

And he found that he, too, was embracing her as tightly as he could, feeling the tears running down his cheeks, and he didn't care, because Xion was here right in front of him and they were _together_ again and-

"Not anymore."

And there was silence, broken only by the pounding of the surf.

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**Story End**

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Thanks for reading. Please review.


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